


A Rose for One

by Akeppi



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Bad Ending, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:42:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akeppi/pseuds/Akeppi
Summary: The Phantom Thieves have made their way through Sae's Palace, fighting and winning against the Palace ruler herself. With her Treasure secured and enemies about to surround them, Ren offers himself up as a decoy. Goro's plan is going exactly as he planned...but what is this sickness Makoto mentions? And why is Ren brushing it off as if whatever this illness is is nothing? It's not like it matters much to Goro, though. After all, Ren's days are numbered...
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	A Rose for One

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever just get inspired to write the worst idea you've ever had because your friend decides to draw something that rips your heart into shreds?  
> Well, this fanfic is exactly that.  
> This also was following a TikTok writing challenge that I, unfortunately, don't have the link to. Basically, it was to start the writing with a line that is genuinely upbeat/happy and has no hidden meanings but ending the writing with the same sentence where it is disturbing/chilling. This, combined with the artwork from my friend, spawned all the ideas and the line that spawned before I had written anything.  
> Truth be told, I knew very little about Hanahaki disease before writing this (and still don't), so I had to do a lot of research and asking that friend about it. There's a lot that I still don't know, but I hope this is enough to make it work.  
> Enjoy this mess of angsty (onesided) Akeshu/Shuake-

_ Roses have always been such beautiful flowers. _

I’m not certain what prompts this thought. My eyes are trained on Queen and Shadow Sae, specifically on the yellow roses adorning the Shadow’s wide-brimmed hat. Even I have to admit that Shadow Sae has a sort of unnatural beauty to her. That’s not the reason I keep my eyes locked on them, though. I have to keep my focus on the two sisters, or at least something that isn’t our surroundings. The Palace’s bright colors and flashing lights, an exaggeration of a typical casino, are an assault on the eyes. If I were in my black mask outfit, perhaps the red-tinted lenses would help me here, but that is not the case. Even so, I refuse to be overwhelmed by all the visual stimuli after having managed thus far.

“Niijima-san,” Noir pipes up, drawing me out of my thoughts. I keep my eyes trained on the flowers, though. “She’s just like my father... What caused them to change like this?”

I hum in thought, pretending as if I’m thinking on the subject. It doesn’t really matter how these Palaces have formed. All they have been for me is a means to an end. “Even though their own desires were the cause, succumbing to such distorted thoughts is strange,” I muse. “Is there another reason they don’t know of?”

“We found it!”

Fox’s exclamation gets my attention. I look over to see him and Skull return, the latter carrying a briefcase. That must be the Treasure. I shift my gaze over to Joker for the first time since the fight ended. For some reason, focusing on Joker causes the rest of the world to fade away. It’s a welcome occurrence in this casino. “The investigation will now be able to proceed. The suspicions against you will be lifted as well. This deal we made... was a great experience for me.” I cannot help but add, “To think that I, a detective, would act alongside the Phantom Thieves...”

“Why stop now?” Joker asks. “We can keep working together. It doesn’t have to end here.”

“I’m afraid that’s not an option. The Phantom Thieves are to disband. That was part of the promise, after all. Don’t forget.”

“Oh.” It’s barely noticeable, but his inflection changes as he says that. He sounds disappointed, almost as if he was hoping for a different response from me. “I see...”

“All right, we don’t need to stay here any longer!” Mona interjects. I don’t look over at him, but I know he’s speaking to Queen as he asks, “Are you all right?”

“I am,” she responds. “Let’s go-”

“Huh!?” Oracle’s sudden shock causes all of us to turn to her. She has her hands on her goggle-like mask as if searching for something only she can see. “Enemy readings! When did they...!? They’re gathering outside!”

All of us are immediately on edge, although my concern is a false one. I know exactly what is happening. Everything is going according to plan. Skull vocalizes the thoughts of everyone else as he exclaims, “For real!? The hell’s goin’ on!?”

Oracle doesn’t respond to this, occupied as she is by the current situation. Holographic screens and text flicker into view, a transparent green ring surrounding her. This must be what she sees in Necronomicon. One video feed, in particular, is what catches my attention. Shadows are manifesting en masse.

Well, this complicates things.

“Look at those numbers!” Fox says.

“This doesn’t look good...” Panther adds, echoing his sentiment.

Even Mona is confused by this phenomenon. “We defeated the Palace ruler and even stole the Treasure, yet the Shadows are still restless... It doesn’t make any sense... What’s going on here?”

“There are more coming!? This’ll be dangerous if we don’t do something!” Oracle yells. The screen from earlier shows more and more Shadows appearing. Her head jolts as she pulls up another stream of text. “Huh?”

“We need to go now!” Mona’s right. They’ll need to leave now if they have any hopes of escaping the trap laid for them. Unbeknownst to them, only one of them is truly in any danger. “Those guys in black suits are almost here. We’ll be done for if we get surrounded!”

“A team this large would be discovered immediately,” Queen muses. Surely, she’ll realize there’s only one option left to them. “We had best split up for our escape... Although, we’ll need someone to act as a decoy.”

“Decoy?” Joker repeats. Once again, he has my full attention. A mischievous smile creeps onto his face. Perfect. If he doesn’t take the bait, then this whole plan will fall into shambles.

“No, that’s too dangerous,” she says, not noticing Joker’s scheming face.

“I’ll do it.”

Queen is definitely startled by Ren’s declaration. “Joker!? Are you planning on distracting them by yourself!?”

“Yup! It’ll be easy.”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” She sounds more worried than I would have anticipated. “If your sickness gets worse-”

“I’ll be fine!” Joker interrupts. Sickness? What is she talking about? “I can do it. Don’t worry about me.”

“But-”

“Let him do it, Queen,” Skull says. “Once his mind’s made up, he’s not gonna take no for an answer.” He hands the briefcase over to Joker, who tucks it under his left arm. “I’m sure you ain’t gonna die. It’s you we’re talkin’ about here.”

“Please don’t do anything reckless, okay?” Noir says.

Joker laughs at that. “No promises.”

“I’ll never forgive you if you don’t make it back,” Panther says.

“We still haven’t fulfilled our deal, remember?” Mona adds.

“It’ll be fine,” Joker responds, sounding so infuriatingly confident in himself. “I’ll make a distraction no one will forget.”

I can imagine half of the thieves want to say something to that, but Oracle speaks before anyone else can, “Even more are coming!”

“This truly is a painfully reluctant parting!” Fox laments.

I look over at Queen as I finally contribute to this conversation. “It seems we had best hurry.”

Queen glances back at Shadow Sae for a moment before turning to Joker. She seems hesitant as she says, “We’ll see you later.”

We all move to disperse, but before I can leave Joker calls out, “Hey, Crow?”

I turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. “What is it, Joker?”

“Make it out of here safely, okay?”

His concern, despite being expected, still gives me pause. The fact that he cares more about everyone else’s well-being, especially mine, over his own continues to baffle me. “There’s no need to be concerned over me,” I respond. “You should be more concerned for yourself.”

“I know, but I still worry about you. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I will be all right. Besides, I’m sure none of us will run into any difficulties with you acting as a decoy.”

“Oh, could you help me with that? I have a plan on how to get everyone’s attention.”

“Sure,” I reply despite my better judgment. I shouldn’t be offering him my aid when the goal is to get him captured, but it won’t matter how much aid I provide him. He won’t make it out of here freely. “What do you need me to do?”

“You’ll see.”

Joker smirks as he grabs my hand, pulling me along behind him. He’s been quite the tactile person recently, constantly taking my hand in his or lingering near me when we aren’t fighting a Shadow. His eyes are almost always on me. Even now, he’s looking back at me as he leads the way out of the roulette room. “You should watch where you’re going. Do we need another repeat of the dice room?”

“Um...no,” he says, laughing awkwardly. He remembers that incident with the pole as well as I do. The reminder does its job, though. He keeps his eyes forward the rest of the way.

Before long, I can see one of the balcony areas overlooking the member’s floor. Joker ducks behind a storage container at the end of the hallway we’re in, where I quickly join him. “So, what’s the plan?”

He peeks his head out, his mess of black hair and his masked eyes the only things that show. It would probably look comical to anyone seeing him on the opposite side. His lips quirk into a smirk as he seems to notice something. “You see that?” he asks, pointing at a chandelier-like object.

“Yes. Is there something you need to be done with it?”

“The cord,” he clarifies. “I want you to shoot it. Your aim’s the best out of any of us.”

I see what he’s thinking. He wants to make a lot of noise using that chandelier. If he’s going to cause a distraction, he’s going to need all eyes on him. Creating a ruckus like this will do just that. “I’ll need to get a better position, but I only need one shot. You’ll also need to find a spot where you’ll quickly draw attention. Let me know when you’re ready.”

He nods. “Be careful.”

“I could say the same to you, but this plan isn’t about being cautious. It’s reckless, but it’s necessary if we’re going to have any chance of escape.”

“I know.” He gives me very little warning as he pulls me into a hug. Startled as I am, I don’t even attempt to push him away. I should, but I can’t bring myself to do it. “Just please don’t get caught, okay?”

“You have my word.” I don’t have the heart to wish him the same, especially since I know he won’t. But maybe he knows, too. He wouldn’t agree to this without knowing the risk he’s taking for the rest of us. I pull away from him, staying close to the wall as I look around for a good shooting position. It only takes a few seconds before I see the perfect spot. I take a running start before jumping up into a nearby alcove with a clear view of the chandelier and the cord attaching it to the ceiling. There’s even a window behind me. It’ll make my own escape easy. I look down, seeing Joker saunter out of the hallway. As if he can sense my presence, he immediately looks up at me. “Here we go,” I say. “You ready to roll?”

He beckons with his finger, an audacious grin on his face. It’s almost like he is taunting me to shoot him rather than the cord holding up the chandelier. I’m almost tempted to follow through with that thought, but with how much time I spent planning this I cannot afford to mess up. I point my gun at the chandelier’s cord, taking a moment to precisely line up my shot before firing. My aim is true, the beam of light from the gun severing the cord with ease. Time seems to pause for a moment before the chandelier plummets to the ground. The resulting crash drowns out the noise of slot machines and spinning roulettes. It doesn’t take long before someone screams down below. I give him a grin of my own, waving him farewell as I say, “Good luck with all that. See you later.”

With that done, I turn around, leaping out through the open window to leave Joker to his fate.

. . .

The events of yesterday play in my head as I wait for the elevator to reach the bottom floor. Everything had gone so smoothly, it almost feels unreal. Ren Amamiya, the leader of the Phantom Thieves, had been arrested. He’s charged with several crimes, including manslaughter that he never caused. I had run into Sae on my way to “interrogate” Ren, and we had talked for a minute or two. For all of her capabilities, though, Sae truly is a foolish woman for believing I am here with good intentions. She had mentioned how he sold out his teammates in exchange for a lighter sentence. That strikes me as odd. The Ren I know wouldn’t have given up his friends’ identities so easily.

I have no time to think much of it; the elevator door has opened. I exit and walk down the hallway to the interrogation room where Ren is being held. A guard stands in front of the door. It’s standard procedure, but this won’t be a normal event. I have no reason to worry about the guard. He’s on Shido’s side and would look the other way if things were to get...violent. “May I ask that you accompany me?” I ask the guard. “Going in unarmed to interrogate a murderer makes me uncomfortable...”

The guard nods, of course. He’s been notified of my visit. Opening the door, he leads the way inside. As he moves to take up his position, I get my first glimpse of Ren since the events of yesterday. To say that he’s not doing okay would be an understatement. He’s sitting at the table, face bruised, staring at us with a vacant expression. Is he even lucid? The syringes scattered on the ground provide me the answer to that question, and now it makes sense what possessed him to sell out his friends. They must have drugged him. A surge of anger threatens to overtake me. I have no idea why this pisses me off as much as it does. It makes no sense. I knew it had been a possibility, and it should make my job that much easier. Yet here I am, enraged that those bastards would go so far as to drug Ren.

My body moves on its own accord as I lunge forward, snatching the pistol from the guard’s hands. With quick precision, I screw the silencer hidden in my jacket onto the pistol and take aim. The guard, terrified out of his wits, holds his hands in front of himself. As if that would protect him from my shot. How sad that he doesn’t know that his death has been ordered by Shido. Who am I to refuse?

“Hello there. I’m here to rescue you,” I say as jovially as I can. The look on Ren’s face is a hopeful one. Does he genuinely think that I will be his knight in shining armor? What drivel. My eyes narrow in disgust as I continue, “That’s what you were hoping I would say, wasn’t it?”

“Wha-” Ren starts to say but goes quiet as I pull the trigger, shooting the guard directly in the heart. The guard clutches his chest, staring at me in disbelief. I feel nothing for him as he collapses to the ground. This was always the plan. I turn my gaze back to Ren, silently daring him to say something about this. He opens his mouth, about to do just that, but he is interrupted by a bout of coughing. It’s only then that I notice the table is stained with blood, rose petals littering the ground and the table. Is this the “sickness” Makoto had mentioned yesterday?

“I owe you for all of this... Thanks,” I remark, watching as Ren continues to cough up these roses. Blood droplets coat the flowers, barely noticeable against the red of the petals. What kind of sickness could he have to be causing these kinds of symptoms?

He’s trying to process the situation he finds himself in, I can tell. “You...You’re-”

“That’s right. You and your little friends were vital to our plan. And now, it will be completed.”

“Goro...?”

“Your popularity truly was quite stunning. That just made using you all the more worthwhile...”

“Using me?” Despite his drug-muddled mind, he seems to understand that statement quite clearly. His voice wavers as he asks, “Is that all this was?”

“Did you actually think I cared about you? You must be more foolish than I thought.”

Not even Ren can stop the tears that spring to his eyes. “I...I thought we had something special. We’re rivals, aren’t we?”

“Not for much longer.” I absentmindedly pick up one of the petals scattered on the table. Ren starts coughing again. This time, he throws up an entire rose slick with blood. What a strange malady. I crush the petal in my hand, letting the pieces fall as I say, “This bond between us was little more than a charade. All of those moments between us were to lull you into a false sense of security.”

“Was it really all fake?”

“That’s what I just said, was it not?”

He averts his eyes to stare at the table. His next question is whispered softly under his breath, almost as if he’s hesitant about asking it. “Did you...ever feel anything for me?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” I reply. I know I’m avoiding the question, but it’s not like it’ll matter in the end. He won’t be alive for much longer.

“Oh,” he sighs, the tears he’s held in thus far finally starting to fall.

“Have you finally pieced it all together?”

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” I don’t verbally respond, opting for pointing the pistol at his head. The action should be more than enough to answer his question. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make things better for you.”

I snicker at that. “What are you talking about? I couldn’t be happier.” It’s a lie, of course. I won’t be completely content until I can finally get my revenge against Shido, the revenge and acknowledgment that I desperately crave. “Everything you stand for will die in this concrete room. Case closed... This is how your ‘justice’ ends.”

He looks back up at me, despondent. The tears trail down his cheeks, and blood drips from the corner of his mouth. He’s trying to keep his expression neutral despite everything, but his eyes betray his fear. I let the maniacal grin I’ve been hiding twist my face, relishing this moment of my victory. My finger rests on the trigger for a moment before I pull it, sealing the deal.

Ren’s mouth falls open a little, eyes wide as he stares at me with the last bit of life he has left. He tries to say something, but it’s too late. The light leaves his eyes, blood flowing from the wound in his forehead. I move the gun away, letting his body slump forward. His head hits the table with a resounding smack. Fresh blood splatters on the table. The dead body in front of me stares emptily, leaves starting to poke their way out of his right eye socket. This is no ordinary illness, that’s for certain. Even though I am sure the wound was fatal, I poke his head with the barrel of the gun. There’s no reaction. He’s dead.

I chuckle, sneering at my rival’s demise. However, something about this doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t make sense. Ren is dead. I’ve gotten what I wanted. My plan will finally progress smoothly now that my biggest obstacle has been eliminated. I should be happy. I  _ am _ happy.

...so why I am crying?

I shove those thoughts aside, wiping the moisture from my eyes. There’s only one thing left for me to do here: fake a suicide. Oh...right. I internally bemoan shooting him in the forehead. For all my theatrics, that’s not how anyone commits suicide. It ultimately won’t matter. Even if someone were to take notice of the gunshot wound hidden under his bangs, the only people who will see the body are Shido’s men. They’ll write it off as a suicide, even if it looks more like the homicide it is. I might as well attempt to at least give it the illusion of being a suicide. Unscrewing the silencer, I tuck it back into my jacket. I can’t be leaving that here. With unwarranted care, I take Ren’s hand in my own, gently wrapping his fingers around the gun. His hand is still warm. I don’t know why this surprises me, yet it does. If it wasn’t for all the blood...

I cough, oddly wanting to retch. My throat feels tight; for a few moments, it’s a struggle to breathe. Damnit, now is not the time to get sick over some gruesome sight! Get it together... And just as quickly, the feeling is gone without a trace. I let Ren’s hand drop on the table. There’s no point staying here any longer. Before I leave, I take one final moment to admire the scene of Ren’s “suicide”. His head lays in both blood and rose petals, the mess of red marred by a single golden petal that hadn’t been there a few seconds ago. Thorny vines dig into the skin of his face. I cannot help but stare at the perfect red rose that has finished blooming where his right eye should be. A smile forces itself on my face.

_ Roses have always been such beautiful flowers. _

**Author's Note:**

> I do not apologize in the slightest for any hearts I may have hurt. This destroyed my soul to write and I refuse to suffer alone. :)


End file.
